If you’ve become less than thrilled with the onslaught of technology solutions to “make things easier,” you’re not alone.
Technology is great when it works. But when it doesn’t, completing simple tasks can be like digging a ditch with a plastic spoon.
Case in point: “I just read your editor’s letter in the February magazine. I like technology when it works. I was without my laptop for two weeks when it died and then my iPad had problems. That’s why I like the printed magazine. I don’t trust the online tools to always be there.”
I couldn’t agree more with Carla, whose comments were the first posted to our new online community, kclonline.com. Although we’ve joined the digital age with the magazine, the magazine in hard copy is here to stay.
My love hate relationship with some forms of technology began two years ago when my new desktop computer died after one month. Dead. Defunct. Bereft of life.
After a rebuild it was never the same — like a broken glass vase, plastered back together tediously with an alleged miracle glue and now only marginally holds water.
“We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works,” a quote by author Douglas Adams that has become my all-time favorite replacing Socrates’ “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” If Socrates had been forced to record that quote and his teachings on a PC, undoubtedly his tone would have been more cynical.
What does all this have to do with the magazine and the electric co-ops? Everyone and every industry faces technology challenges, perhaps as a result of a backlogged supply chain or an act of Mother Nature — or both. The best we can do is reset with help from the very reason we sometimes have technology challenges — Mother Nature. Go dig in the garden, admire the wildflowers, converse with the animals (just don’t let anyone else hear you.) Enjoy the bounties of spring — bursts of color, warmer temperatures, and, thanks to daylight saving time, more evening light in which to enjoy outdoor activities.
Even when technology fails, “hope springs eternal.”
